A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods of detection of low concentrations of isothiazolone compounds using immunoassays.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Isothiazolone compounds are widely used as biocides in many applications where water or moisture is present. In many of those applications, there is a need to determine the proper dosage and stability of the isothiazolone in the system. The present state of the art is to use HPLC analytical methods which are time consuming, inconvenient, and expensive.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation European Patent Application Number 0260829, published Mar. 23, 1988 (inventor: Kenneth W. Hunter) disclosed monoclonal antibodies which react with chlorinated phenols, particularly pentachlorophenol, and hybridomas which produce such antibodies; and an immunoassay for such chlorinated phenols. Although detection methods for many compounds would benefit greatly by development of an immunoassay, appropriate cell lines are very difficult to create.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,972 (Hunter) discloses an antibody based assay for enzyme-inducing chemicals (such as dibenzodioxins). Isothiazolones are not enzyme-inducing compounds.
Kohler and Milstein, Nature 265:495 (1975), first described how monoclonal antibodies directed to sheep red blood cells may be prepared by fusing a specific antibody-producing B-lymphocyte with a tumor cell, resulting in an "immortal" self-reproducing hybrid clone (or "hybridoma") that can synthesize, in a cell culture (in vitro.) or an animal (in vivo), a single, monoclonal antibody.